A Collector's story
by Jaredof
Summary: Theo, owner of a museum, likes to travel around space to collect various artifacts for his collection, unbeknownst to the Imperium authorities, accompanied with his crew and his Kroot bodyguard. But his life took a new turn of events after a special expedition to retrieve a mysterious stone, followed by a meeting with the Eldar.


"We're entering the atmosphere, Sir."

The deep voice of Jonas erupted from behind the console command of the spacecraft, his eyes following every movement on the dials, while both of his hands were firmly grabbing the controls of the ship. But it'd be pointless to worry about anything, since Jonas was a very skilled pilot, and moreover a former guardsmen.

"Nice, we should be on the surface of the planet in no time. Everyone, be ready ! We won't need any suits at least, the air is breathable. But the planet holds little to no human population, so take caution."

Jonas nodded down in approval, while Theo sat down in his chair, satisfied. Seeing his pilot so diligent was making him proud of finding him, back on his own planet, but he was even more satisfied by the fact they were close of their goal. In a few hours or something close to that, he would be holding a new piece for his personal collection.

Theo wasn't a special individual officially, he didn't had any ranks or titles, such as a Rogue Trader would have, but informally he was an adventurer, like his now recently passed away dad, and also the owner of a xenos curiosities museum, which he inherited from his dad as well. Unlike the majority of mankind, Theo didn't held any resentment, fear or hate towards aliens, in fact he found them fascinating.

Such a statement would make its way to the Inquisition, he would probably be executed on the spot. But his home planet was far, far from Terra, lost in the confines of the colonized space, even though it hosted a decent population.

As the owner of the museum, he would often go on expeditions to find rare pieces to exhibit. Being quite rich, thanks to his family lineage, dad's adventures and museum income, money wasn't much of a problem, even if his spacecraft wasn't the most recent one.

This time, he and his crew were following the steps of an ancient stone and... That was pretty the only thing they knew, other than its supposed location. But Theo was confident in himself, this journey wasn't the first one by far, despite his young age of 28. He hummed happily and raised up from his chair, looking through the windows, to see a planet covered in green tiles of forests, while the star of the system was lightning up its surface.

"That's beautiful... Every time I notice such a view, I'm thinking of how lucky I am, not many people can travel in space.", he whispered to himself, poking the glass with his hand.

"It is indeed. Almost as good as on Pech.", answered a voice behind his back, making Theo so frightened he raised his hands in a fighting motion when turning back.

"Gosh, Keryax, don't scare me like that...!", he said while catching his breath, when he realized he was facing his best friend and bodyguard, Keryax. Now, it wouldn't be surprising if Keryax wasn't a scary-looking Kroot Carnivore. Both of them laughed together and shared a friendly handshake, then they faced the planet as they were entering its dense and moisty atmosphere.

"Yeah, it does look like your home world. A jungle planet, with swamps and all of this. Very far from my freezing world.", Theo chuckled lightly, hands behind his back.

"Sure, but I got used to it. Remember how I sworn to protect you right ? Some snow isn't going to hold me back in my duty.", Keryax replied, tapping his rifle.

The story of their meeting was quite unusual, and Theo loved to talk about it. Several years sooner, maybe 10, his planet was the theater of a Tau and humans skirmish, being quite close of the Tau latest Sept of influence. The Imperial Guard sent a few regiments to back off the aliens from the planet, and in the end the humans were victorious, kicking the Tau away.

But they left behind them wounded soldiers, both Tau and Kroot alike, probably because they needed to flee as quick as possible. Needless to say, the guards and their commissars executed every one they encountered.

Back to this day, Theo was living with his parents in a small village, located in a remote area for the season, and his dad and him met with a badly injured Keryax, trying to flee an upcoming guard contingent, while hunting in the woods.

Fortunately for the Kroot Carnivore, Theo's dad didn't hated and feared aliens, since he was and adventurer and all, so they took him home and hid him in their basement for months, nursing him back to health.

The Guard eventually went away and Keryax could leave the cellar. At first, the locals were scared as hell from him, but in the end they learned to accept him, trusting Theo's dad decision, who was very respected in his community.

After months of rehabilitation, Keryax was left with the choice to leave the planet and be returned to a Tau system, or stay. Feeling indebted, he decided to stay, and sworn to protect Theo at all costs, as a way to thanks his dad for everything he did, a promise he's still fulfilling to this day as his personal bodyguard.

"Yeah I know, and I can't thank you enough for staying by my side, I really appreciate it.", Theo said with a small nod, before going quiet for the rest of the landing procedure, still looking through the window.

After a dozen of minutes, they eventually landed in a small clearing, left untouched by the civilization's hand and filled with exotics plants. The sky was clear with no clouds. It'd be a nice weather this day, despite the moisty air.

After everyone gathered in the main room of the ship, Theo briefly explained the mission to his crew, around 12 peoples, all skilled people and capable of surviving alone if needed.

"Well, now we're going to leave the craft. Lance and Nora will go in front as our scouts, I transferred the location to everyone's map. Stay together and it'll be okay.", he eagerly said, clenching his fists from the excitement.

"Alright, you're the boss, you're leading. Everyone, protect our commander at all costs.", replied Lance, swinging a knife around before opening the door of the craft, as everyone was ready to go.

The door squealed as it opened, sending hot and humid air inside the cabin, and it bumped against the muddy ground. Of course it'd be muddy, it was a Jungle word after all, judging from the plants they could see closer now. As said before, the two scouts jumped out of the craft, and the whole team followed, only Jonas stayed to secure the spaceship.

"Damn, for Emperor's sake, I can't see anything with these leaves...! They are everywhere !", angrily shouted Lance, cutting through the vegetation with his knife. Only 30 minutes have passed since they left the clearing, but their progression was already difficult.

The vegetation was so dense, and the leaves so clumpy they were sticking to their boots. Or feet, in Keryax's case. As a Kroot however, he didn't had any difficulties to move through the jungle, much to the rest of the team's frustration. But he didn't really cared anyways, lost in his thoughts. He leaned closer to Theo's hear and he whispered worriedly.

"I think someone is watching us, I heard the plants around us moving, and it wasn't an animal."

"Alright, I'll keep an eye out. But don't say a word to the others or they'll freak out, and I don't need a bunch of teammates running around."

Keryax shook his head and went back to his position. Theo was now a little anxious, but was till confident. It was probably natives or orks, nothing his team couldn't handle, so he shouldn't worry too hard. Still, the jungle circling them was now feeling more oppressive than before, going to their heads, the air wasn't easy to breath.

"Well, we should be close now. The map is saying we'll reach it in a few minutes.", announced Nora to her teammates, glaring at her map before turning it off in the silence.

Theo rubbed his chin while walking, thinking about the whole situation. In the end, they didn't took too long to reach their destination, it was even surprisingly easy, the sticky mud put aside. And effectively, after a few more steps between the trees, they met up with the small cave entrance, hidden behind a load of ferns. But something felt off to Lance, as he was poking the ferns with his gun, to reveal a shiny object, lying in the grass.

"What's that shiny thing ? You think it's worth something ?" he asked curiously, picking it up to examine it closer.

"That seems to be... I don't have a fucking clue !", exclaimed Nora, peeking over Lance's shoulder, before being moved aside by Theo, who grabbed the object from Lance hands.

His eyes widened as he looked over the object. It was an Eldar blade, or what was left of it. It had a distinct shape, and was made of a metal Theo didn't knew about, yet it was all crackled and rusted, showing how old it probably was.

"It's the remains of an Eldar blade, probably a sword. I guess some of them lived on this planet before, and they used this cave to do something, but I don't know what.", he explained, rolling the blade between his fingers, before finally putting it away in a pocket.

"Well, it was long ago anyways, so let's go into the cave shall we ?"

The crew agreed, they were too close to gave their journey up, so one by one, they stepped into the darkness of the hole, and disappeared inside the cave, leaving the jungle alone. Keryax was the last one to go through the entrance, and he looked between a lign of trees, a worried look on the face, something wasn't right, he felt he was being watched away, far in the distance, something the humans didn't noticed.

Inside, the air was far colder than on the surface, and it made Theo quivered, rubbing his arms, even with his warm clothing. At least, the path was clear, going straight down into the obscurity, now pierced with the team flashlights. It was only rocks, no plants. Suddenly, Lance grimaced as he directed his light onto staircases, carved into the stone.

"Steps ? Here ? That's weird guys, I thought it was a natural cave, not something somea random dude created."

"Remember the blade at the entrance ? Probably sculpted by these aliens back in the days.", suggested Jay, their medic, behind him and visibly anxious.

"I think so too. They probably used this cave as a storage area or a bunker...", whispered Theo at his turn, followed by a collective nod of agreement.

Afterwards, the silence came back, only interrupted by the steps of the team, the atmosphere was now quite eerie and tense. At one moment, Theo even could've sworn he saw something moving graciously in the shadows, but ditched it away as something coming from his imagination. The descent took between 20 and 30 minutes, coming through many other staircases and empties rooms, but they eventually reached the last floor.

"This cave is definitely man-made, or Eldar-man in this case. I don't like it... Let's find the stone and get the hell out of here, for Emperor's sake.", sighed Nora, leaning against the wall, tired of all this walking.

"Don't worry about it, we should be close now, it only makes sense for something so precious to be buried deep down.", replied Theo, now leading the way. His excitement was coming back and he hardly contained it. If things were left to him, he would be running down the hallway, looking for the said treasure.

Everyone agreed, at least the wages they would earn for this journey will be worth it, and Theo will have his stone for his museum. After a final sigh from Nora, they all walked down the final corridor, pushing aside a few stones in the way. The corridor itself, as the rest of the cave, was plunged into darkness, but even more than before, as if it was a warning against intruders.

Reaching the end of the corridor, they were all greeted by a ginormous room, so large they couldn't see its ends. It was all carved into stone like before, but with fineness and elegance : a row of statues on each side, finely sculpted, a floor carefully carved with unknown symbols, and majestic pillars circling an altar higher up. And on this altar, a small box.

"Look, it must be the treasure !", shouted in enthusiasm Lance, quickly followed by the rest of the group. Theo smiled behind his mask, they finally made it, he was going to retrieve this stone in a few moments now. The whole expedition was fairly easy, they didn't met up with any enemy, and the cave was deserted, only filled with dust and cobwebs.

"Alright. Everyone, secure the area, I'll go grab the stone. Keryax, with me.", he ordered to his teammates, and soon enough they all scattered into the room, while he was walking up stairs to reach the platform where the altar was.

"Now, eliminate them.", suddenly said a quiet yet musical voice, but one the humans couldn't understand, and buzzes filled the room, coming with beams of a blueish light all around them.

Completely hit by surprise, Theo immediately understood what was going on, and he screamed from the top of his lungs : "Grab your guns, fire ! Eldars are after us !"

"And it had to be warp spiders, gosh why...", he silently muttured to himself. Despite being a human, he knew the basics of the main xenos races thanks to his museum and his own curiosity, this including the Tau and the Eldars. Reading books his dad had stolen from his days in the army sure helped. And he knew the second he saw the lights a squad of warp spiders teleported with them.

And of course, one of them appeared right in front of him, and it had to be the Exarch of the squad. Craftworld Ulthwe, as said by the sign on his helmet and shouldercaps. He was carrying a Death Spinner, one of the deadliest weapons in the Eldar arsenal. Theo clenched his teethes and drew his own weapon out, a Shuriken rifle, his favorite gun he got from his dad from Emperor knew where.

"Keryax, do as usual.", he whispered to his friend, before jumping behind a fallen pillar to take cover, at the exact moment the Eldar warrior opened fire on him, crushing against the stone. Keryax growled and ran behind another pillar. They were going to use their regular strategy, with the tough Kroot as the bait.

"Now !", yelled Theo from behind his cover, still sprinkled with the sharp bullets of the Death Spinner. Keryax jumped out of his hiding place and quickly ran directly into the Warp Spider ramming into him. The Eldar grunted at the impact and unsheathed his blade to battle in melee as he was now obligated, while Keryax used his custom rifle.

Even a Kroot wouldn't last long against an Eldar Exarch, and Theo knew this too well. He firmly squeezed his rifle, wishing to strike well his enemy, and while the two other were fighting, he leapt from behind the pillar, and run at his turn, bumping against the back of the Warp Spider.

The device they used to teleport was located on his back of his armor, and Theo was going to destroy it. He pressed the cannon of the rifle against it, and fired, moving against the polished armor to completely ruin the device.

The Eldar screamed in surprise, and Keryax used this opportunity to swung his blade against the helmet, crushing it, and followed with another strike in the knees, bringing the spider down, just in front of the altar.

Theo jumped on top of the warrior and put his weapon against his temple while Keryax pushed the Death Spinner and the blade away.

"Now, I know you speak our language. Order your mans to stand down, or I'll pull the trigger.", Theo coldly murmured to the Eldar, leaning his rifle closer. Even with the helmet, the Exarch wouldn't survive a hit in the head.

A brief moment of silence, then the Eldar said in his own language, with a clearly disgusted tone : "Stop shooting, I repeat, stop shooting.". Despite the protests of his squad, he remained silent and eventually the gunfight ceased, the room was now as silent as before. But from the platform, nobody could see what the aftermath of the battlefield was looking like.

"Nice, you're being cooperative. Now tell me, what do you want ? You were following us, don't you ?", asked Theo, a bit satisfied but knowing the situation could worsen within a second.

"Tsk, foolish Mon-keigh, I bet you're happy right now, me being at your mercy. You don't need to know anything else beside that we were forced to kill all of you.", spited the warrior in disgust.

"It's related to this stone doesn't it ? You didn't wanted us to grab it for whatever reason."

"Shut up, you don't know what you're talking about. You're just another pesky, selfish human who wanted to grab the stone for your own pleasure and gain. You don't know anything... As if a spirit stone would say anything to you."

Upon hearing the answer of the Exarch, Theo eyes opened widely. Unlike most of the common soldier or folk in mankind, he did knew what a spirit, or soul stone was, and he was now feeling horrible. His arm wavered lightly, and he sighed sadly, looking away from his captive.

"I know what a soul stone is. Your kind is using it as a way to secure their souls after death, so you're not ripped apart by a Chaos God. And I didn't know anything about this stone, other than its location."

"How... How does a human knows about it ? It doesn't make any sense ! By Khaine's blade...", shouted the Eldar in the most surprised tone Theo had even seen, before shaking his head. "Tsk, it doesn't matter, you're still going to shoot me and use it, like the rest of you petty race."

"No, I'm not going to. You were probably sent to retrieve it, so it only makes sense you were tasked with eliminating us. I don't wish this stone anymore, it's all yours, I don't want to mess with the dead and spirits of your race.", Theo replied with a small nod, before sheathing his gun back and moving aside, leaving the alien completely bewildered.

The Eldar couldn't understand anything. A human with knowledge of his race was certainly something you wouldn't see often, but even more was a human eager to put away his desire and selfishness. From as a far as he could remember, no one he knew abroad the Craftworld had encountered a situation like the current one.

"Just... What the... What are you up too, Mon-keigh ?", he asked confusedly, still lying on his knees, eyes facing down the ground, before suddenly feeling an excruciating pain inside his whole body.

The rush of adrenaline from earlier was now vanishing, and the consequences of both the strike of Keryax to the head and the shots of Theo in the back, leaving open, deep wounds could be felt. As a result, the Exarch held his stomach in pain, and soon enough fell and bumped against the hard stony ground splattered with his blood, his vision fading away each second passing by.

_"What the... He's dying !, shouted the surprised voice of Theo, Keryax, go get the medic ! I don't care if his squad won't understand a shit of what's going on, we can't leave him dying before us !"_


End file.
